Appearences can be deceiving.

Yesterday, while in Melpensa Airport outside of Milan, I was sitting in terminal 1A01 and had just sat down after ordering some dinner. It was crowded, and a Muslim man and his wife asked if they could sit down. He was dressed in full religious garb, and she had a veil covering everything but her eyes - not exactly the most comfortable position ever.

The man asked what I was reading, and when I said it was a science fiction novel his eyes lighted up and asked if I had ever read Dune. I have - it's one of my favorites. We had both read all 10 books in the series at least once, and spent a good 15 minutes talking about it and other science fiction.

When he asked where I was from I said New York, and both he and his wife sincerely apologized for what happened on 9/11. Then, as the man was asked over to help three people solve a dispute - they only spoke Urdu, French and Italian each, and he spoke all three - his wife and I started talking about our travels.

Turns out the were in Europe because she is one of the leading doctors in Pakistan, and there was a EU medical conference in Barcalona she had been specially invited to attend. Her husband, a high ranking official in the Pakistani government, was merely tagging alone for the ride to sightsee.

The whole conversation left me rather stunned, and reminded me to never trust first impressions.

Safely in Dublin, although we were slightly delayed so I didn't get in until 01:00.